As Cameroon-watchers await the official results of this month’s elections, the outcome is highly predictable—victories for the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) and for the long-serving incumbent president, eighty-five-year-old Paul Biya. But the country’s future is utterly uncertain.

In remarks delivered at his swearing-in ceremony on September 17 as the new U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, veteran diplomat Tibor Nagy hit all the right notes, stressing the challenges and opportunities inherent in Africa’s youthful demographics and emphasizing the enduring importance of governance in attracting trade and investment.

Recent news out of Angola has raised the stakes in new President Joao Lourenco’s push to differentiate his tenure from that of his predecessor. Though he became president in September 2017, it was not until a year later that Lourenco assumed control of the ruling party, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), significantly bolstering his authority.

Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue (nicknamed Teodorin), vice president of Equatorial Guinea, son of his country’s president, and heir apparent to that office, made headlines this week. According to media reports, authorities in Brazil seized some $16 million in cash and high-end watches from his delegation, where he had reportedly traveled for medical treatment. Brazilian law limits the amount of cash visitors can bring into the country to $2,400.

Earlier this week, President Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton delivered a blistering attack on the International Criminal Court, or ICC, long a scourge of his and his audience at the Federalist Society.

Recent events have shone an international spotlight on Uganda, where the government’s treatment of parliamentarian and musician Robert Kyagulanyi, better known by his stage name, Bobi Wine, is bringing new attention to the repressive nature of Ugandan politics, and new energy to those resisting the status quo. He recently arrived in the United States to seek medical treatment for injuries allegedly sustained while in government custody.

Ambassador Princeton Lyman passed away last week at the age of eighty-two. A true giant of U.S.-Africa relations, he had a long and extraordinary career as a diplomat and scholar, serving as the United States’ ambassador in Nigeria and South Africa, as the assistant secretary of state for Africa, and as the U.S. special envoy to Sudan, among other posts.